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Poster: craven714 Date: Sep 20, 2011 9:47am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

My first taste of the GD? TDIH 1970.
How could I go wrong?

I met a guy name Trey in my hometown of BFE, Ohio who told me,
"If you're ever gonna get the Dead, you have to have this" :
http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-09-20.aud.remaster.sirmick.27583.sbeok.shnf
I was 17 (mid 80s) and extremely open-minded.
I was hooked as soon as the tape started rolling. Goodness knows what it would have been if it was any other show.

Then I saw the GD Movie on MTV, back when they actually played music-videos, and that's all she wrote.
It took me a while to get to see them live, and that was
the icing on the cake. Never looked back...

I know this has been done before but, I am curious to YOUR first experience with the GD.

A friend? A tape? A LP? An 8-track? Heaven forbid, thrown in face first to a live show?

Give us a story...

All will be taken at face value except for Kockman and ah_uh_oh_um.

Thanks for playing...

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Poster: Uncle_John Date: Sep 20, 2011 10:12pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

I was first turned on to the Dead as a college freshman in '77. Bought a few albums and enjoyed them. But, some time that winter, (while chemically enhanced with headphones on) it was the Stella Blue from Steal Your Face that stole my face and really hooked me.

Thirty-some years later I still spend about half of my listening time with the Dead.


On a somewhat related note... I work at a university and have a small crew of students who work for me. After interviewing my most recent hire, a 19 year-old sophomore, talk turned to music. He plays piano and clarinet and said his musical tastes lean towards jazz. During his first work shift last Friday I played a mix I had on my player with some 2nd set jams from '71, '74, and '77. I didn't tell him what it was and he didn't ask. When he came in to work this afternoon I asked for a music request. He said something like "Do you have any more like you played on Friday? That guitarist is really amazing." I put on 11/11/73 set 2. Maybe too much too fast, but he seemed to dig it. ;-)

- John

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Poster: SomeDarkHollow Date: Sep 20, 2011 10:02am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

Depends on how you define it. First exposure, or first time you "got it". As I've documented here before, those two events were entirely seperate. I don't even remember hearing them for the first time, or what show it might have been. I do know that while I really dug the music, it didn't knock me over. That event took place in a dorm room at Lehigh U on a late fall afternoon in 1984 with a tape brought back by a friend from the still fresh Augusta shows. I can still recall the feelings that swept over me as the Dew enveloped my very being. Was it the music? The now smoldering embers in the wooden pipe? A combination? All I know is that from then on it seemed as if the way I perceived ALL music changed. I felt myself now focusing on much more then just the notes, but instead on the feelings behind them, be it Carlos in "Song of the Wind" from Caravanserai, or Miles in "Kind of Blue". Jerry opened those floodgates that day and my wife will never forgive him.

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Poster: Old_NJ_Head_Zimmer Date: Sep 20, 2011 10:58am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

Could not agree more about exposure and "got it"

Funny thing is until you get it - you don't know what it is

Some people it takes a long time and many shows to get it
Others get it quicker
Some never get it at all

True enough but I figure this would spur some funny responces like only this place can

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Poster: SomeDarkHollow Date: Sep 20, 2011 11:16am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

Also, different folks "get it" in different ways. While some may be blown away by a 67 Viola Lee, others may be flattended by a 81 Shakedown. Thats why I put no judgement on folks for what period, or shows, they happen to like. I don't think any of us would take the time to mingle with the assortment of freaks assembled here if they didn't "get it".
Mama Ragetti: "I find you disgusting"
Grandpa Gustafson: "Just as long as you find me, my dear"

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Poster: mklsgl Date: Sep 20, 2011 10:14am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

Mid-1970s radio, WMMR, Philadelphia, "Anita in the Morning" (she was married to Warren Zevon, I think): "Wake Up Dead Heads!" and either "Truckin'" or "Casey Jones" or one of the radio-friendly tunes roused the Phila. faithful at 7am.

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Poster: deadhead53 Date: Sep 20, 2011 11:21am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

I have stated this before as well but got into the Dead in HS a little bit, my HS years were 86-90. While I liked Touch of grey and some of the stuff you heard on the radio (which was minimal at best), it was not until my frosh year in college that a buddy gave me a 1st gen SBD copy of the 4/29/71 Fillmore show and after that it was all she wrote and while I grew up in the late Brent/Hornsby/Vince era, i started trading as much as I could for that era sound and bought as many live CD's as I could. That fall of 90 and that 71 board was it for me!

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Poster: craven714 Date: Sep 20, 2011 11:55am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

Very familiar with WMMR, great station.. I lived in Cherry Hill in the Mid 90s. Great station, but I like WXPN better,
especially since they hosted the singer/song writer weekends
at Penns Landing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WXPN.
Thanks for your response :)

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Poster: craven714 Date: Sep 20, 2011 11:39am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

You know I always value your input SDH.
I never thought of it that way. I just
"got it" as soon as I heard it. Thats a very interesting concept on your part. I guess there were many different doors that opened for me after the initial 'wow' factor,
as you point out. But for me, it was like a drug. I just
had to have more. And luckily, there was PLENTY more out
there. I understand your view now: Listen and get it, and
then get it and GOT IT!

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Poster: chris in long beach Date: Sep 20, 2011 10:37am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

First exposure? Seeing "Touch of Grey" on MTV. I was...12 or 13 I think.

First thing that got me interested? Friend of the Devil on Pandora, about...eh, 6 years ago.

The first show that really caught my attention and started me down the rabbit hole was 8-6-71.

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Poster: craven714 Date: Sep 20, 2011 12:24pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

I have heard "Orange County Rules".
Agree or Disagree? ;)

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Poster: chris in long beach Date: Sep 21, 2011 12:19am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

Hmm, I need to update my user name to "chris in metro Atlanta" :D

Eh, OC is what it is. I much prefer LB, although I did enjoy venturing into OC to check out Cubensis at the...Marlin?

Are you from the area?

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Poster: craven714 Date: Sep 21, 2011 7:43am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

No, not from that area. "Just Visting" as a Monopoly
Board would say. Just wanted to get your opinion.
From LB to ATL? All I can ask is WTF? Little culture
shock for you? or what?

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Poster: chris in long beach Date: Sep 21, 2011 8:28pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

Oh, I'm an Atlanta native, so, yeah, I sorta did have culture shock :) Atlanta has changed a lot since I left (I was away for about 15 years). A lot more music, nightlife, diversity, the works.

I think of OC as a mix of urban and suburban life. Big towns, small cities, if that makes any sense! Huntington Beach has a decent downtown, and the beaches are nice.

Other than that? Eh, nothing to see!

Oh! If you like karaoke and drinking till you can't stand up, check out the Prospector in Long Beach (7th and Cherry) on a Friday night. The drinks are so strong that I could still taste the alcohol after my BAC was like 3.5 :D

Enjoy your trip! Not sure of your dates, but if Cubensis is playing (and you don't hate tribute bands)check them out.

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Poster: wisconsindead Date: Sep 20, 2011 6:28pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

napster like programs. Though the without a net eyes of the world and reckoning were some of my first favorite jams. Workingmans dead (my dad had the album) was also played a lot. Im young so it was more so being a pot head and being around people who listened to grateful dead. Now I'm basically the only one left who listens to the dead.

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Poster: Reade Date: Sep 20, 2011 3:18pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

8-track recording of the band performing at the Fox Thatre in St. Louis in December of 1971. Garcia complaining between songs about house lights that were too bright.

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Poster: turnphilup Date: Sep 20, 2011 10:11am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

It must have been I think the Skeletons from the Closet (LP) album that first peaked my interest. But it was the ability or mine set to look for more after hearing that that set me on my way. Having older siblings and hearing nothing but FM radio in the seventies inclined me toward classic rock from the get go. The dead covered more ground then rock though, and that is what turned me on to them the most. Jazz, blues, western, you name it, they could pull it off at one show and they changed up the set list night to night had appeal as well. The first boots we came across on cassette were 5-8-77 and 3-1-69, and I could not believe it was the same band. I was hooked and had to see them live and started researching them as much as you could back then before computers. After a few live shows, I would comment to friends that I toured with, that the songs they did sounded so familiar to me, yet I had never really heard them before. This was the late eighties and by then the band had been around awhile and great shows were far and few between. To me, they are the only band that should be given the moniker of the first "Americana" sounding band.

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Poster: snori Date: Sep 20, 2011 11:43am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

I think it would have been some time in 1972. I was with a few friends at one of their houses on a Saturday afternoon. We had guitars, and would play around a bit and take acid. I think we played stuff like 'Silver Machine',and I remember reading the words to Bonzo Dog's 'The Big Shot' to the others' backing.

After a while one of the others pulled out 'Live Dead', and a little over 20 minutes later my life had completely changed. I didn't know music could sound like that, but I certainly knew I wanted to hear more of it.

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Poster: jgIynn1.2 Date: Sep 21, 2011 12:13pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

It was my buddy singing Casey Jones and me asking:

"what's that?"

"it's the Grateful Dead"

"huh"

"From Steal Your Face"

I'm pretty sure we listened to it after school that day and I was hooked.

This all probably occurred '76 or so when I was about 13.

First show was Cape Cod 79

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Poster: johnnyonthespot Date: Sep 20, 2011 10:44am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

well let's see. I'd heard some greatest hits ( skeletens then WALSTIB which is a weird collection not greatest hits at all ) sort of stuff but nothing really grabbed my soul for good until I'd say I heard Skull and Roses. The Wharf Rat and NFA>GDTRFB transition really clued me into what they were all about

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Poster: blang16 Date: Sep 20, 2011 11:31am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

Saturday Night Live. I had heard them plenty. I knew Truckin' and Casey Jones - everybody knew Casey Jones in the 70's. But I saw them that first time on Saturday Night Live -1978 I think.

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Poster: johnnyonthespot Date: Sep 20, 2011 11:46am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

last Friday I went to Costco to buy Star Wars on BluRay ( gotta have it! ) and what did I see? The first five or six seasons of SNL for 12 ea! Of course I have to buy season three or whatever it was to have the Dead performance. They didnt have the other season with them from what I saw. Much to my dismay the call it the COMPLETE season but they only had Casey Jones. Didnt the bands play twice then too?

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Poster: Jobygoob Date: Sep 20, 2011 1:21pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

The Dead played three songs that night...Casey Jones, Good Lovin, and Miracle

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Poster: johnnyonthespot Date: Sep 20, 2011 1:45pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

I thought Good lovin and Miracle was the second time they played SNL? They played the show twice. No thanks to Lorne Michaels. Thanks to Franken and Davis and later Belushi and Akroyd I'm sure. Now I must research

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Poster: Jobygoob Date: Sep 20, 2011 1:55pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

in 1980 they played Alabama Getaway & St. of Circumstance
This post was modified by Jobygoob on 2011-09-20 20:55:57

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Poster: johnnyonthespot Date: Sep 20, 2011 1:56pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

thats right! Alabam, forgot about ST. Thanks! Well then damn, I got screwed out of two songs not just one

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Poster: Jobygoob Date: Sep 20, 2011 2:11pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

Yeah that's weird I thought those discs were the whole shebang

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Poster: davebigdaddy Date: Sep 20, 2011 9:19pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

First exposure during college days. E72, Wake Of The Flood, and Mars Hotel.

Got it for sure during my first show. 5/7/77. Been an amazing ride ever since.

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Poster: craven714 Date: Sep 21, 2011 8:15am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

"Got it for sure during my first show. 5/7/77" ~DBD I just pooped a little. wow. If anyone were to 'get it'... Thank you all for sharing your stories. I wish there were more, but don't we all. Hopefully, there will be more to come. I really appreciate 'the moments that led up to getting it', responses:(Diamondhead "it's when I started panicking about getting tickets when they came to town. (LOL)" and SDH and Old_NJ_Head_Zimmer sharing that knowledge. That helps me open my head even a little more. Thanks peeps!
This post was modified by craven714 on 2011-09-21 15:15:33

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Poster: deadhead53 Date: Sep 21, 2011 7:19am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

Did you get the Star Wars, my wife and I ordered it for us and my two kids (they are fanatics as well, they are going as a storm trooper and padomie for halloween) I pre-ordered it from amazon and it should be here soon, how is the blue-ray. I am more pumped about Star Wars then I was the Euro 72 box

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Poster: johnnyonthespot Date: Sep 21, 2011 8:47am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

hell yeah, had to get it the day it came out. Costco had it for the same amount as Amazon - 80 for all six movies and three bonus discs. So far we've watched Revenge of the Sith, New Hope and Empire Strikes back. Revenge of the Sith looked especially amazing. There's only so much you can do with the original but they still looked as good as I've sen. Don't like the extra crap Lucas added in but he's been doing that for awhile. Me and my son are both really into it, he knows more than me largely due to video games. The first one, episode IV will always have the top spot in my heart. I was 7 when my Dad took us to see it. Naturally got swepped up in it all

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Poster: johnnyonthespot Date: Sep 21, 2011 9:07am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

thats cool about your kids. My son loves it but my daughter not so much : (

Hey speaking of Storm Troopers do you know the story of how Samual Jackson got involved? Pretty cool. He just wanted to be a part of it even just as a storm trooper

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Poster: deadhead53 Date: Sep 21, 2011 9:20am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

I did not know that about Jackson at all, that is pretty cool though. My kids have the lego game, they watch the clone wars and love the movies. IV will always be my favorite as well, saw it 13 times when I was 12 (of course we were able to sneak into the theater at that time!) Both my kids love it, now music is another story my 9 year old is into pop country(kills me) and dance music but my 4 yd old son is into the GD with me, he knows a Bob or Jerry tune and loves Phil ( he wanted me to take him to Furthur this summer) he loves the Black Crowes, Mule and all the music I do but this will probably change as he gets older. He makes fun of my daughter though and the music she likes! It cracks me up. But to say both my kids are Star Wars freaks and that my boy loves the same music I do, I am doing well so far!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahaha. Hopefully the delivery will come this weekend

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Poster: Diamondhead Date: Sep 20, 2011 4:56pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

No one moment. I think it was a process in the early 70s that included being dragged to LA concerts and Europe 72.

I do know when I became aware that I got - it's when I started panicking about getting tickets when they came to town.

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Poster: Skobud Date: Sep 20, 2011 11:48am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

I moved to Buffalo in spring of 1986 and I had never heard any GD prior to that - I was into classic rock, and at that point had not really ventured to far out of the Zepplin kinda mindset. I met this group of guys at my new high school who listened to nothing but GD and the like. Being all of 16 years old I found that a little strange to say the least. I thought their tapes sounded like shit and couldnt even understand why they were so into the GD.

FF to the end of spring and it was announced that Tom Petty, Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan were coming to Buffalo on the 4th of July and playing at Rich Stadium. Needless to say these guys were totally stoked and talked me into going. FF again to show day and I vividly remember getting off the exit in Orchard Park, and just being amazed by how many freakin people had invaded Orchard Park. I never saw anything that even remotely resembled that type of scene before. Within 30 minutes of parking, I ate my first dose and the rest was history. The insane weather that day only added to the experience. It was incredible.

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Poster: craven714 Date: Sep 20, 2011 12:28pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

Excellent stories! keep em coming people.
So far snori wins the 'elder-head' trophy, but I wanna
read more from ya'll...

And now reading some of your responses, I remember the
'Skeletons Out Of The Closet' being very prevalent in my
first years of seeking out the Dead. Now, if I see a copy of it I just laugh and laugh
and laugh and laugh now, knowing its meaninglessness.

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Poster: Scrim Date: Sep 20, 2011 1:53pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: A first time tape/LP/8-track/CD/live? TDIH

I was a kid at the NY state fair, mid 70's, and I was looking at these rock & roll pins a vendor was selling. I didn't have any intention on buying one, just killing time and looking at them. The vender pulls one off the rack and pins it to me; it's a picture of Jerry's smiling face. He says something to the effect of "you have to have this one, he's the greatest." I walked around all day with it, and when I got home I put it away. Years later "I got it" and then realized that those many years ago I had met a kind deadhead who was probably grinning over the fact that a little kid with straight parents was walking around with Jerry on his jacket.